Riding the Puma

About a week ago I was able to take a ride on a British helicopter known as a “Puma” over the streets of Baghdad (that's me walking towards the helo with my trusty L.L. Bean bag hanging over my back). It was a thrilling experience. We flew rather low over the roof tops and extremely fast. The pilot kept the helicopter banking and swerving in order to make it a hard target. At one point, he even launched flares to discourage anyone on the ground from taking an interest in us. As you can see in these photos, it was very exciting.